Lankans – the Resilient Hope
We are a resilient bunch. I was telling this to a friend recently. We were discussing Singapore and Dubai as countries that are technically advanced, very systematic, high GDP etc. and yet when we were recounting Sri Lanka’s trajectory in the last 30 years, it has honestly been one of resilient persistence.
We had a terrible civil war which we are still recovering from, we had the tsunami, Easter attacks, Covid, economic crisis which we are just struggling through. And yet here we are. Still pushing on, still working, still trying to make it work. No one can deny that half this rubbish is our own making and a lot of the country is in some kind of PTSD from all this. Yet, we still persevere – doggedly and almost hopelessly in some instances. There is the belief that we can make it – perhaps one fuelled by foolish nationalistic pride and some sense of karma and fate. Still, it is better than nothing or just falling apart. Because we can still smile, still believe, still continue on.
Perhaps it is this that also makes some of us easily adaptable. It is in a way, the catalyst for evolutionary survival. If you don’t adapt, you die out. This adaptability makes some of us good workers in companies because we are able to do what it takes – not fall down when the system crashes. It is obviously not ideal, yet it is useful as life is never uniform or predictable.
As a country, we do have a long way to go – the trajectory of recovery is a long, slow and painful walk to freedom. Yet, it is one we must take and in this, despite the hopelessness, there is always hope. And light. May we always find that light.